Translations

See also

''This article deals only with female toplessness. For male
toplessness, see barechestedness.

Toplessness
refers to the state of partial female nudity in which a woman or postpubescent girl has her breasts uncovered, with her
areolae and nipples visible. The adjective topless can refer to
a woman who appears, poses, or performs with her breasts so exposed
(a "topless model"); to an activity or performance that involves
exposing the breasts (a "topless dance"); to a graphic,
photographic, or film depiction of a woman with her breasts
uncovered (a "topless portrait"); to a place where female
toplessness is tolerated or expected (a "topless beach"); or to a
garment designed to reveal the breasts (a "topless swimsuit").

Many indigenous, non-Western cultures, such as
those found in parts of Africa and the
South
Pacific, consider it culturally normative for both males and
females to go without clothing on their torsos. Because
"toplessness" can imply sexual licentiousness or deliberate
defiance of cultural taboos, the term should not be
applied to women in societies where breast exposure is the norm.
Nudists may
also object to the risqué connotations of the term "topless" and
may prefer the adjective "topfree."

Cultural and legal issues in the Western world

While it is fashionable and culturally acceptable
for women in Western cultures to display cleavage,
particularly when wearing swimsuits or dressing for
social occasions, concealment of the lower portion of the breasts,
including the nipples
and areolae, is a
sociocultural norm of
postpubescent female modesty in the Western world.
Additionally, in the interest of public
morality, a few Western juristictions have enacted legal
statutes that define the act of publicly displaying the female
breast as indecent
exposure. The topfree equality
movement opposes such legislation, arguing that since men may
expose their anatomically analogous chests and nipples with
impunity, prohibiting female toplessness constitutes a form of
sexual
discrimination.

Heated debates have taken place on the issue of
public breast exposure, particularly when nursing mothers have been
prosecuted for breastfeeding their babies
in public. In response to campaigns promoting the health benefits
of breast
milk, many jurisdictions now permit public breastfeeding while
retaining indecent
exposure laws, essentially differentiating the lactational from the sexual functions of the female
breast.

Western prohibitions on breast exposure are
generally relaxed in appropriate gender-segregated areas such as
women's locker rooms,
changing
rooms, or communal
showers, or in specific zones such as beaches or saunas where
public female toplessness is deemed acceptable (see below).
However, in response to sociocultural, religious, and legal norms,
women will conceal their breasts at other times. As such, public
toplessness in the Western world is mostly confined to sunbathing
and occasional acts of exhibitionism.

Zones permitting toplessness

Either through legal statute or through
established precedent, many societies exempt some zones from
prohibitions on female toplessness. A notable example is the
topless beach (which may also be called a top-optional beach to
clarify that topless sunbathing is a woman's free choice or topfree
beach to disassociate topless sunbathing from sexual connotation).
Found in many liberal parts of the world, topless beaches are
especially common in Europe and Australia, where
they are mostly uncontroversial. A mid-1990s survey found that 88%
of Australian university students (of both genders) considered it
socially acceptable for women to go topless on public beaches,
although the majority disapproved of female toplessness in other
contexts (Herold, Corbesi, & Collins, 1994; 1995). A topless
beach differs from a nude beach or
naturist
beach in that beachgoers of both sexes will keep their
genitalia strictly covered. Women who sunbathe topless generally do
not consider themselves as nudists.

Other zones where female toplessness is tolerated
or expected may include the Finnish
sauna and carnivals
such as New
Orleans Mardi Gras, where it has become customary in recent
years for women to expose their breasts in exchange for strings of
beads.

Entertainment and media

Specific adult-only venues often
employ women to perform topless as a form of commercial erotic
entertainment; these can range from downmarket strip clubs
to upmarket cabarets
such as the Moulin
Rouge. In many Western cultures, female toplessness is also
regularly featured in magazines, calendars, film, television, and
other media.

In the United
Kingdom, following a tradition established by The Sun in 1970,
several mainstream tabloid newspapers feature topless female models
on their third page, known as Page Three
girls. The tradition has sometimes caused controversy, as when
feminist Member
of ParliamentClare Short
campaigned vigorously but unsuccessfully to have Page Three girls
banned, but is generally accepted as inoffensive and even
amusing.